Phoenix Woman Busted With Boatload of Pot... In The Desert

A 31-year-old Phoenix woman was arrested Tuesday for trying to smuggle pot inside a boat that she was towing behind her truck.

The woman, who has not yet been named, was crossing the border at Lukeville when a drug-sniffing dog noticed something amiss. Officials searched the boat and found nearly 360 pounds of marijuana inside.

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According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the drugs' street value would be close to $180,000.

Experts say that boats are the most effective way to smuggle contraband into the United States. One U.S. Foreign Military Studies Office report estimates that 80 percent of the drugs that originate in Mexico and end up in the U.S. got there by sea.

Obviously, this method is a lot more effective when the boat is actually, you know, in the ocean. Word of advice to aspiring smugglers: It doesn't work as well when you try to tow it across a major border checkpoint.

CBP reports that the boat and truck were both seized, and the woman was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.

Antonia Noori Farzan is a staff writer at New Times and an honors graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Before moving to Arizona, she worked for the New Times Broward-Palm Beach.